Protect your shoulder during reaching saves.
For today’s exercise tip for goalies, I am answering a great question that I got on Twiter – you can follow me – @GoalieTraining. This is a great way to ask a quick question and this one is courtesy of @MsConduct10 (does that mean there are 9 other MsConducts?)
So, the question was about the awkward position when a goalie is making a reaching save with the arm outstretched in front of their body. This is a pretty biomechanically weak position and a vulnerable position for the triceps and the lats. With the triceps being the weaker of there is a risk
Cardio Training for Goalies
Over the last 4 days I have had three questions about cardio training for goalies, so it was a bit of a no brainer what I should write about today. The questions I get about cardio training are similar but different; here are the ones I will cover today…
Should I do some cardio training before I start an off-ice program like Ultimate Goalie Training 2.0 just to drop a few pounds and get a base?
Should I do long slow cardio?
What type of cardio should I do sprints or long slow distance?
I did touch on the topic last week during the Q&A, but since I have had several questions since that post went out, I guess I need to give it a little more detail. So here we go…
An experiment in techno-wizardry & forearm strength for goalies
Hope your week is off to a great start so far. As I mentioned in the title of this post, this is a bit of an experiment in techno-wizardry. As…
Off-Ice Goalie Training Q&A – Part 2
As promised, here is part two of the Q&A. I posted the first part of this goalie training Q&A earlier this week and although I thought it was a pretty quick Q&A, it turned out the be 12-minutes. Well, I know that most of you have other things to do – like train for hockey – and asking you to sit down and watch a 12-minute goalie training video is quite a bit to ask on a Monday. So, I split it in two and here is the second part (then read the bottom of the post for a wicked tech tip).
Is It All In Your Head?
Did you know that if you take ask an individual to exercise a muscle group to exhaustion – to the point where they cannot possibly do one more rep even if their life depended on it, but then apply an electrical impulse to the muscle, it will continue to contract.
In other words, you circumnavigate the nervous system and apply an direct and external depolarization (electrical impulse), which is how nerves activate muscle fibres, and you can get an exhausted muscle to do more work.
Am I suggesting that this is just mental weakness on the part of the subject? No, not entirely. There could be an exhaustion of the motor pathway by some other mechanism, but we have all heard stories of people summonsing super human strength to perform unbelievable feats.
Okay, let’s step back a bit now and think of the role that mental strength plays in the success of a goalie, not in terms of their neurophysiology necessarily, but in terms of their ability to focus and when necessary re-focus.
I had the opportunity to speak with Nashville Predators Goaltending Coach Mitch Korn a few weeks ago and our conversation kept turning to the mental aspect of the game.
Off-Ice Goalie Training Q&A
Okay – on to the task at hand. Time for another installment of… Off-Ice Goalie Training Q&A – Part 1
This one got so long that I decided to split it into two. Today I will answer questions about…
– medicine ball exercises
– I want to do UGT 2.0 because I am very competitive – but I am also super busy – what should I do?
– starting your hockey/goaltending career later in life
Get all the answers in the video below and stay tuned for part two later in the week.
What’s with Spring Hockey Tryouts?
Remember a few weeks ago when I talked about my wish for a ‘rule’ that would let you punch (might have said pinch – but what I meant was punch) someone as hard as you can without any repercussion? So there would be a list of circumstances when you could punch – just once and then go on about your day. Need examples….
You need a divorce.
Did I get you with that headline? Hope none of you stopped reading at that and went straight to the phone to call your lawyer. Put down the phone and let me explain how you need to divorce something from your off-ice training.
I cannot remember who it is off the top of my head, but there is a strength coach who talks about coaches, trainers and athletes who are ‘married’ to an exercise. You know the type – they are nice, smart, honest people who choose a spouse who lies, cheats and steals.
You finally get the courage to tell your friend ‘the truth’ about their spouse – thinking you are doing them this great favour – letting them know that the one they love is actually doing them long-term harm. You are saving them from pain and suffering down the road – you are a good friend.
So you give your friend the facts and what is their response?
The Goalie Training Dilemma
Wouldn’t it be cool if you could just open a window into the workings of the human body and see exactly what adaptations were occurring (both good and bad) with different goalie training programs?
Imagine. You could do a set of heavy back squats and see your quads, glutes and hamstrings all get stronger, get better at utilizing energy and more resistant to fatigue. But then you could look a little deeper and – ‘oh oh’ it looks like we are also adding some wear and tear to the vertebral discs at the same time.
Okay, let’s contrast that to a set of barbell front squats – ah ha! We get the same benefits to the legs without the back squat, but as we take a look at those vertebral discs we don’t see the same degree of wear and tear. Okay, now we know exactly what to do – keep the front squat and can the back squat.
Top 10 Off-Ice Goalie Drills
Before I get into the goalie drills that will actually help you perform on the ice, I also want to be clear that we are not trying to simply mimic exactly what you do on the ice with your goalie coach. During off-ice goalie training, the goal is to enhance the physical capabilities to execute your movements on the ice with more speed and precision.
Now let’s take a look at the Top 10 Off-Ice Goalie Drills…